Name: Stephanie Robbins
Business Name: Hyht Bites
Location: Pacifica, USA
Establishment (Year): 2020
Category: Food & Beverage
Profession/ Specialty: Healthy, delicious, fun to eat fruit snacks
Website: https://moonfruitsnacks.com/
Social Media: Linkedin
Company Detail:
Stephanie Robbins and her business partner started Hyht Bites from an inspired nugget of a conversation. As food marketers, they shared their frustration that their children only wanted sugar-filled snacks. This meant they would go home after a long day at work marketing food and then make their own homemade snacks for their children. Working for food manufacturers to help bring new products to market, they couldn't inspire the change needed to get the healthy products they wanted their children to eat. Realizing they couldn't make this change working for others, they set out on their own to transform snacks to be “good for you”, not just better for you.
And they learned they were not alone, as 87% of parents agree that it’s difficult to find healthy snacks that their kids want to eat. So, this became their challenge, and they spent a year developing Moon Fruit, a crunchy, colorful snack that kids love, and it’s healthy.
Moon Fruit is truly innovative in that it’s made from whole fruit, with no added sugar, and it’s colorful and fun to eat. They freeze dry Moon Fruit because freeze drying locks in about 97% of the fruit’s original nutrition.
Moon Fruit was created from the ground up for kids with smoothie-inspired flavors, a crunchy texture, colorful, fun-to-eat, and space-themed packaging. At the same time, parents appreciate the short and clean ingredient list without added sugar, concentrates, pastes, or juices.
Finally, parents can say an enthusiastic YES to snacks their kids want!
Unique Selling Proposition or Competitive Advantage:
Moon Fruit is the only crunchy fruit snack in the category, which is overrun with gummy and fruit leather options. Moon Fruit is also only made with real fruit, a touch of gluten-free oats, and nothing else. There’s no added sugar; in fact, there’s no added anything except fruit and gluten-free oats. Moon Fruit contains the equivalent of just over 1/3 cup of whole fruit per serving.
Challenges Faced During the Journey:
They started by self-manufacturing, but the only way to scale on their own is with expensive automation. They’ve had some equipment issues that have cut their capacity and hindered their growth at a critical juncture. But they have now moved to a co-manufacturer, which also presents some hurdles. However, they now have the resources with this partnership to scale as they grow.
Also, introducing a new brand that is both innovative and unfamiliar in the marketplace is always a hurdle, but since the pandemic, it’s particularly difficult as they’ve not been able to sample and use some of the more classic methods of introduction. Stephanie Robbins and her business partner have spent many hours outside the front of stores handing out factory-sealed sample packs to introduce their product, along with some demoing in stores more recently.
Advice for Women Entrepreneurs:
This is a difficult road with high hurdles, but when women truly believe in what they are doing, it's all worth the hardships to see their ideas come to life. There is no better feeling than when they get a letter from a customer who truly loves their product.
